Several valley towns will vote this spring

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This story has been corrected.

EAGLE COUNTY — Election season starts early this year. Before we vote for a governor, a senator and county commissioners in November, there are spring elections that may have a bigger effect on life in the valley.

The spring elections include voting in Minturn, Eagle and Gypsum, all in April. May brings special district elections. Most are for candidates to serve on boards, but there’s also a handful of tax and spending questions to answer.

Here’s a look at the towns and districts asking for our votes this spring:

Minturn

Election date and place: April 8 at Minturn Town Hall.

Issue: Town Council election.

Who’s running? Mayor “Hawkeye” Flaherty is being challenged by resident Frank Lorenti. There are also four candidates for four council seats: Incumbents Shelley Bellm and Earle Bidez are seeking another term, former council member Matt Scherr would like to return to the board and newcomer Jason “Ozzie” Osborne has returned his paperwork. Candidates with the top three amounts of votes will be elected to four-year terms; the person finishing fourth will serve a two-year term.

What you need to know: Minturn no longer has a “permanent” mail ballot sent to registered voters.

Red Cliff

Election date and place: April 1 at Red Cliff Town Hall.

Issue: Town Council election and a marijuana ballot question.

Who’s running? While four seats are available, only incumbents Anuschka Bales and Tom Henderson submitted paperwork to run. The town council will seek applications after the election to fill the remaining two seats by appointment.

Town voters will also be asked if the town should ban medical marijuana facilities. Those facilities are now allowed, but there are none in town. Voters will probably be asked in November if they want to ban retail marijuana operations.

Gypsum

Election date and place: April 8 at Gypsum Town Hall.

Issue: Town Council election.

Is it too late to run? No, but the deadline to return paperwork is Wednesday.

Who’s running? As of Thursday, Chris Estes, Tim McMichael and newcomer Marisa Sato are the only people to have returned their paperwork. Mayor Steve Carver is expected to run again.

Eagle

Election date and place: April 1 at Eagle Town Hall, although early voting is available until March 28.

Issue: Town board election, as well as a question asking voters if the current “lodging occupation tax,” now dedicated for open space, can also be used to build and maintain “soft path” trails and facilities such as restrooms and parking areas.

Who can vote? A resident or property owner in the district, which includes both Vail and a few areas close to, but not in the town’s boundaries.

Issue: Board election.

Who’s running? Voters will pick three members of the five-member board. No incumbents are running. Candidates this year are Kevin Foley, Constance Miller, Kim Newbury, Robert Oppenheimer, Brian Rodine, Tom Saalfeld and Penny Turilli.

Eagle River Water and Sanitation District

Election date and place: May 6 and by mail ballot. Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters — residents and property owners — between April 14 and 21.

Issues: There’s a board election and a pair of tax questions.

On the board, members represent districts but are elected by everyone in the district as a whole. Candidates are:

District 1: Rick Sackbauer (incumbent) and Kaye Ferry.

District 2: Sounia Nejad Chaney, Paul Testwuide and John Rediker.

District 3: No candidates. A member will be appointed by the board after the election.

District 5: Matt Scherr and Tom Allender.

District 7: Ellen Eaton, Bill Simmons and Tommy King.

On the tax-and-spending side, the district is asking for a property-tax increase in order to issue a “general obligation” bond to pay for wastewater system improvements. The other question asks voters to exempt the district from some of the revenue limits imposed by the Colorado Constitution’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, amendment.

Other special districts

Here’s a quick rundown of elections scheduled in other special districts this spring:

The following special districts are holding elections May 6. The information was provided by Robertson & Marchetti, a local accounting and management company that administers elections for many local special districts.